Businesses and schools will close if the intensive care bed occupancy rate reaches 80%, according to the new Covid plan, presented by the cabinet.

Under the new plan, Bulgaria is divided up into 6 district clusters which will be monitored, and the measures affecting these clusters will be a function of the aggregate of intensive care beds in this group of districts. The map of the six districts will be presented to the public in the country every day, with a 5-day forecast. This means that every family and every business will know what is coming, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said. He stated that there will be four stages in which there will be different measures. The first stage is – a 50% intensive care bed occupancy rate, (the measures are soft), the second stage – a60% intensive care bed occupancy rate, (measures are put in place but all businesses and schools will remain open), the third stage – a70% intensive care bed occupancy rate (the first restrictive but softer measures will be applied, but 1^st to 4^th grade children will have in-person classes), the fourth stage – a80% intensive care bed occupancy rate (symmetrical closure of businesses, with the exception of groceries and pharmacies). At this point the Northern central district of Bulgaria is in danger of entering stage 4, Kiril Petkov added.